Net lobbyists want growing room

One bit of advice a leading Internet technical group offered the White House today: no new Internet taxes.

In a letter to Ira Magaziner, the Internet Society put in its two cents on a variety of other issues, including encryption, privacy, electronic payment systems, and the management of Internet domain names.

The Internet Society is an international organization whose 100 organizational and 7,000 individual members come from Internet service providers, telecommunications, and other companies--including MCI, Sprint, and Bolt Beranek and Newman. In its letter today, the group said it hopes the government reconsiders its policy to restrict exports of encryption technology, and that it puts a halt to Internet taxation.

"Governments appear to view electronic commerce on the Internet as a golden goose that will yield many eggs," wrote Martin Burack, executive director in the letter. "We urge all to give the gosling the opportunity to grow to puberty before being asked to give up any gold."